Vegetarian Protein Sources —Legumes and Grains to the Rescue!

Excellent vegetarian protein sources, legumes and
grains also score highly for fiber, folate, and vitamin B. And more good
news: despite their low fat content, they taste remarkably good when prepared with a little thought and imagination. Let's look at legumes first...

Legumes

Among the more-common legumes are lentils; pinto, black, and kidney beans; mung, navy, and lima beans. But there are many, many others as well: adzuki,
butter, and calico beans; cannellini, great northern, and soy beans;
edamame; garbanzos; black-eyed and split peas...not to mention the
fabulous scarlet runner bean! Just for starters. Click here for a broader description of beans.

Most legumes provide between 5 and 8 grams of protein per half cup (cooked), although the protein content of soybeans is higher. [For some helpful tips on soaking legumes, see this page at Sense and Serendipity, where Divina discusses ways to disarm "oligosaccharides," the sugar molecules that can lead to flatulence.]

Generally speaking, legumes tend to be delicious
even when quite simply prepared. And if you get a little creative
and/or adventuresome, they sometimes taste better still. Pasta e
fagioli, southwestern black bean soup, refried pinto beans with some embellishment...any of these are wonderful, and there are so many more. In fact, would you believe black-bean brownies? Check 'em out!

Grains

Whole grains, which contain the entire kernel (bran, germ, and endosperm), are another nutritious food, whether or not you're vegetarian/vegan. [If you're gluten intolerant, however, you'll want to avoid wheat, barley, and rye.] Here are some of your choices:

Toss any of these into salads, or use them as
a base for casseroles or as a "nest" for stir-fries or sauces; even eat
them by themselves. Cooked wheat or oat groats, for example, make a terrific
breakfast cereal, as do sautéed steel-cut oats (pre-cooked) and quinoa,
which weighs in at 8 grams of protein per 6.5-ounce serving.

Really, your options are virtually endless with grains; you
just need to use a little imagination...and planning ahead can be useful, as well, as grains take a while to cook. To fully access the protein from
your grains, some nutritional experts advise mixing them with legumes or another protein source. And vice versa.

Although the turtle and I have
conducted an oddly fruitless online search for a good real-time protein
counter, perhaps you’ll have better luck yourself. I hope so. If not, this book of "food counts" might do the trick for now. It's the one I use myself.

Meanwhile, something to remember with vegetarian
protein is that the grams do add up. Not as quickly as animal protein, obviously,
but in the same way. With a little planning and foresight, you can do
quite well with vegetarian protein sources such as these: seeds/nuts,
dairy, soy products, seitan, and even veggies. Enjoy the ride!

*I will receive a small commission for products you purchase from Amazon as a result of clicking the link above.

The material at this site is NOT medical advice, as I am neither doctor nor nutritionist. What I am is merely someone who's lived successfully on a vegetarian diet for many decades...and I transitioned from omnivore to vegetarian gradually. Please check with your doctor if you're considering big changes to your own diet. Also, be sure to find a dependable source of Vitamin B12.